Fracking is Shaking the Earth in Texas

When Texans say “no” to oil and gas development, it’s a sign that times are a-changin'

With Alan Septoff

Sharon Wilson

January 27, 2014

The earthquakes you may have heard about — the 30 tremblors that have struck north central Texas since November 1 and have damaged many homes. The quakes are most likely being caused by underground disposal wells used to get rid of wastewater generated during fracking operations. “Frackquakes,” some are calling them.

Photo by Dennis DimickA massive oil field in Texas. The state has always been the heart of the US oil industry, embracing oil and gas development from its earliest years, and pioneering fracking in the Barnett Shale.

The quakes you probably haven’t heard about are political. They’re caused in part by the frackquakes, and in part by other environmental, social, and public health impacts of fracking-enabled oil and gas development. And they seem to be changing Texans’ opinions about fracking.

The oil and gas boom sweeping through the US is occurring because horizontal hydraulic fracturing makes it possible to extract previously inaccessible oil and gas locked up inside the pores of shale rock thousands of feet underground.

How?

Well, by drilling a well down to the shale deposit; taking a right turn to horizontally extend the well for thousands more feet through the shale layer.,and then injecting millions of gallons (two to eight millions gallons, depending upon the area) of water laced with tens of thousands of gallons of toxics at such high pressure that the shale rock breaks (fractures). The water and toxics (called flowback fluid) are then withdrawn back up the well, and the released oil or gas follows.

The oil and gas is cleaned and piped and sold. But what of the toxics-laced flowback fluid and other (briny, and sometimes radioactive) water produced by the well?

Because of the chemicals in fracking wastewater, it cannot be treated at an ordinary sewage wastewater treatment plant. Instead, it is injected in another well deep underground. It has long been known that this type of wastewater injection deep underground can lead to earthquakes when it occurs near a fault .

So it is no surprise that as fracking has become near universal — more than 90 percent of all new oil and gas wells are fracked — that the number of fracking wastewater injection wells and associated earthquakes has soared as well.

Especially damning is that places that are historically seismically inactive, like Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, have seen earthquake swarms after fracking wastewater injection wells began in earnest.

Unfortunately, the damages from frackquakes can be considerable. Originally thought to be minor, new research is showing they can be large. A 5.7 magnitude frackquake near Prague, Oklahoma in 2011 damaged 14 homes and other structures in the area. Particularly in parts of the country where earthquakes were previously uncommon and infrastructure was not built to withstand seismic activity, even smaller earthquakes can cause significant, expensive and dangerous damage.

“In other states where fracking wastewater injection wells have been shut down, earthquakes disappear. This isn’t rocket science. Common sense tells you that fracking waste disposal is playing a big role in this. Don’t make us guinea pigs while you study. — Reno Mayor Lynda Stokes

“This is a property rights issue, pure and simple. The most profitable industry in the country is damaging our homes. And the Railroad Commission is not only allowing it, they’re forcing homeowners to pay the damages.” — Reno homeowner Barbara Brown

But in some ways, Texas is more important because the state has always been the heart of the US oil industry, embracing oil and gas development from its earliest years, and pioneering fracking in the Barnett Shale. In political terms, Texas is the oil and gas industry’s base.

So when Texans are willing to stand up in open democratic processes — first in Dallas and now in Azle — and say “no” to oil and gas development, it’s a sign that times are a-changin’. If Texans aren’t willing to live with fracking, then it may be impossible for anyone to live in harmony with fracking.